Izvorul Muntelui Dam
The Izvorul Muntelui Dam is a concrete gravity dam contructed on the Bistriţa River, in Neamţ County, Romania. The dam is located in gorges located upstream of the confluence of the Bistriţa River with the Bicaz River. The foundation is mainly Tarcău sandstone, with intercalation of clay schists and conglomerates. The foundation rock was consolidated by 10-20 m deep grouting. An impervious veil by cement injections in 70-100 m drilling was created to prevent leakage under the foundation of the dam. The dam has four 11.5 m wide spillways equipped with 7 m high sector gates. Four bottom discharges having diameters of 2,5 m equipped with gate valves have also been provided. The storage reservoir The storage reservoir has a total capacity of 1235 mil. m3 out of which 930 mil. m3 active capacity and 305 mil. m3 inactive capacity. It has a surface of 3260 ha and a length of 35 km. The maximum width of the lake is 2 km and the maximum depth 97 m. The reservoir required the relocation of 2291 farms and 18760 people from 20 villages. Most of the inhabitants (13196) opted for their relocation in new villages, built on the shores of the lake, while the rest preferred relocation to other settlements. The diversion tunnel From the storage reservoir the water is diverted by a 4655 m long headrace tunnel having an interior diameter of 7 m and a double reinforced concrete lining, under Mount Botoşanu. The surge tank is of differential type with multiple diaphragms. The upper chamber is above ground and has a diaphragm of 33.00 meters and a height of 17.00 m. The vertical underground shaft has a height of 70 m and a diameter of 23.00 m. At the end of the tunnel, at the entry into the pen stocks a valve room with two butterfly valves was built. There are two penstocks with diameter of 4.20 - 3.80 m embedded in achhoring blocks. The hydroelectric plant Construction of the dam and of the plant The dam was initially named "Vladimir Ilich Lenin Dam". This name was later abandoned and the present official name of the dam in Izvorul Muntelui Dam, though it is also known as Bicaz Dam. Besides the laborers of the construction company, the construction of the dam and of the hydroelectric plant also used forced labor. Government Decree Nr.6 of January 14, 1950 created Units of forced labor, which were converted by Government Decree Nr. 1554 of August 22, 1952 into Labor Colonies. The people working in the forced labor camps were rich peasants (so called "chiaburi"), merchants sentenced for profiteering, former members of the Romanian right wing parties (known as "legionnaires") or of former non-communist political parties, relatives of "traitors of the motherland" (persons who had left Romania and settled abroad), peasants who opposed the process of colectivization of agriculture and other opponents of the regime.Ion Bălan - Regimul concentraţionar din România 1945-1964, Fundaţia Academia Civică, Bucureşti 2000 Barajul de la Bicaz - realizări și suferință The members of the Neamţ County Chapter of the Association of Former Political Detainees erected a cross near the dam in memory of the workers who lost their lives during detention Barajul Izvorul Muntelui. Another form of forced labor were the military of the "Service of Labor" ( which had been created by Government Decree Nr. 2 of January 14, 1950. This service enrolled young men who were of age of being conscripted in the mandatory military service but, for political reasons, were not deemed reliable and therefore considered unfit for military training. From 1950 to 1959 a unit of 1200 military enrolled in the Service of Labor were active in the construction of the dam and hydroelectric plant. External links * Movie on Izvorul Muntelui Dam * Movie on flood discharge from Izvorul Muntelui Lake * Movie on Izvorul Muntelui Dam References * Barajul Izvorul Muntelui * baraje.ro Barajul Izvorul Muntelui * Mihai Cojocar - Hidroconstrucţia 2005, Tradiţie şi modernitate - Bucureşti 2005 -ISBN 973-0-04208-X Category:Dams in Romania Category:Hydroelectric power stations in Romania Category:Dams completed in 1960